So long... for a little while

No matter how many times I have read it, I really can't help being moved when after some 900 pages I run across sentences such as these:

...now listen to my lay. For I will sing to you of Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom.
And when Sam heard that he laughed aloud for sheer delight, and he stood up and cried: 'O great glory and splendour! All my wishes have come true!' And then he wept.

or also

But Merry stood at the foot of the green mound, and he wept, and when the song was ended he arose and cried: 'Théoden King, Théoden king! Farewell! As a father you were to me, for a little while. Farewell!'

and... well all the last part of "The Grey Havens" section, but that would be too much quoting... let's just be content with

He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I'm back', he said.

It's true that the book's greatest defect is that it's too short... that's not a great problem, because I expect to start it anew within some months, as always.